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  • Welcome to TPMvids Disney Beat where we talk about all things Disney!

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  • Disneyland in California is known as Walt’s park.

  • In 1923 with a suitcase and a dream, Walt Disney moved to California where he became

  • a pioneer in the animation and movie business.

  • Now Walt was a visionary man and by 1950 he was ready to try something new and venture

  • into theme parks.

  • He was a kid at heart and on July 17th, 1955 his dream became a reality with the opening

  • of Disneyland; this magical place everyone regardless of age could enjoy.

  • That’s right!

  • Anythings possible at Disneyland!”

  • Walt himself was very involved in the entire process of bringing Disneyland to life going

  • to the park every day during the construction process.

  • Even though Walt Disney may be gone, his spirit still lives on at the park.

  • There’s many tributes & hidden details pertaining to Walt all around Disneyland and after 6

  • decades of operation, there’s also some myths that have circulated as well.

  • So today while looking at the history of Walt Disney & the theme park, were gonna be

  • counting down the Top 7 Walt Disney Hidden Secrets & Myths at Disneyland.

  • Number 7 This first hidden Walt Disney tribute takes

  • us into the whacky cartoon world of ToonTown.

  • Now the windows on Main Street are used as a way to honour the men and women whove

  • helped build up Disneyland.

  • This also includes Walt Disney, who’s name can found on the door to the Casting Agency.

  • Well in Toon Town, the window tradition was continued but they just honoured cartoon characters,

  • with one exception made for Walt Disney; the only human allowed into Mickey’s Toon Town.

  • Above the library, youll find two windows with Laugh-O-Gram Films Inc.

  • The bottom portion of the right window has W.E. Disney- Directing Animator- W.E. standing

  • for Walter Elias Disney.

  • Before the success of the Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney had another studio venture

  • called Laugh-o-Gram films which was founded in 1921.

  • The studio was based out of Kanas City, Missouri where Walt, along with a team of talented

  • artists, produced various short animated cartoons.

  • Unfortunately, Laugh-o-gram films didn’t last too long and went bankrupt in 1923 and

  • that’s what prompted Walt’s move to California.

  • Even though Mickey Mouse wasn’t conceived until 1928, the character was inspired by

  • a little mouse at the Laugh-O-Gram film office.

  • In the waste basket by Walt’s desk, he found a little brown timed mouse, so he placed it

  • in a wire cage and kept it as a pet on his desk.

  • Later in 1928 when Walt asked Ub Iwerks to come up with a new character, he remembered

  • that cute little rodent from Kanas City and Mickey Mouse was born!

  • Number 6 Walt Disney’s speech on opening day at Disneyland

  • is pretty iconic..

  • To all who come to this happy place; welcome.

  • Disneyland is your land.

  • Here age relives fond memories of the pastand here youth may savor the challenge and promise

  • of the future.

  • Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created

  • Americawith the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.

  • Now have you ever been in New Orleans square and heard this clicking sound coming from

  • the telegraph cable office?

  • Well that clicking sound is a message in morse code which would have been used in the 19th

  • century; the era New Orleans Square is set in.

  • The message is about a minute long and its an excerpt of Walt Disney’s opening day

  • Disneyland speech.

  • It says, “To all who come to Disneyland, welcome.

  • Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and

  • promise of the future.”

  • Now another fun hidden Walt Disney tribute hidden in New Orleans Square can be found

  • on this railing above the Royal Street Veranda.

  • If you have a keen eye, youll make out Walt Disney’s initials along with his brother

  • Roy’s initials right in the centre of these railings.

  • Theses have been here since New Orleans Square opened in 1966 and act as another reminder

  • of the men responsible for dreaming up Disneyland.

  • Number 5 Disneyland was once just an idea that Walt

  • Disney dreamt up, and that dream happened in a very specific place.

  • At the entrance of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, youll find a bench hidden in the

  • doorway.

  • Well this is where Walt Disney dreamt up Disneyland.

  • On the weekends, Walt would take his daughters to the merry go round at Griffith park.

  • He sat on this bench while they rode the merry go round and thought to himself that some

  • kind of amusement enterprise should be built where the parents and children could have

  • fun together.

  • Now before this grand idea we know today as Disneyland, Walt’s original idea was called

  • The Mickey Mouse park.

  • It was to be built at the Disney studios in Burbank, California.

  • This park was only about 8 acres but as the dream grew, Walt Disney decided that they

  • needed a much larger space.

  • So in 1953 the Walt Disney company purchased a 160 acre parcel of land in Anaheim.

  • Sonstriction began in 1954 and Disneyland was opened on July 17th, 1955.

  • Number 4 Over in Town Square you can find the Disneyland

  • firehouse and it’s commonly known that Walt Disney had a small 500 square foot apartment

  • on the second floor.

  • Now you may have noticed a lamp in the front window and it’s actually kept shining everyday.

  • When Walt Disney would stay in the apartment he used to turn this light on and it became

  • a way to let guests and cast members know that he was in the park.

  • After Walt passed away, they kept the light on to keep his presence alive and this is

  • the common story told about the lamp.

  • The only time the lamp isn’t seen is during the Christmas season when a Christmas tree

  • takes its place.

  • Well the myth surrounding this lamp goes a little something like this.

  • Shortly after Walt passed, a custodial cast member was cleaning the apartment.

  • She turned the lamp off, went down to the park and then noticed it was still on.

  • She thought she just forgot to turn it of.

  • So she went back up, turned the light off and when she went back down to the park, it

  • was mysteriously on again.

  • Its even said that when she went back into the apartment to turn the light off again,

  • she actually saw the light turn on by itself.

  • Since that day they just chose to always keep the light on as a tribute to Walt.

  • Either way, both stories end with the light staying on to honour Walt Disney, but which

  • one do you think is true?

  • Comment below.

  • Number 3 The Partners Statue can be found in hub with

  • Sleeping Beauty castle as the backdrop.

  • Carved by Imagineer Blaine Gibson, this copper statue of Walt Disney and Mickeys Mouse was

  • added in November of 1993 and stands 6 feet, 5 inches tall.

  • It’s actually 7 inches taller than Walt’s actual height.

  • Back in the early 1960s, Gibson created a bust of Walt Disney, so by using that as a

  • model he spent a year sculpting the Partners statue to make sure it was just right.

  • When you take a close look, youll notice many small details that really capture the

  • essence of Walt Disney.

  • The Partners statue at Disneyland in California was the first to debut but today there are

  • 5 statues in total which include one in the hub of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

  • and one at Tokyo Disneyland.

  • On each of these statues there’s two hidden details that many people seem to overlook.

  • If you take a look at Walt’s hand pointing down Main Street USA, there’s a ring on

  • his finger.

  • It's an Irish Claddagh ring that Walt’s Wife Lillian bought for him on a trip they

  • took to Ireland.

  • And Walt actually wore this ring everyday.

  • You also may have noticed something engraved on Walt’s tie.

  • Well that says STR which stands for Smoke Tree Ranch.

  • That was Walt’s vacation home in Palm Springs.

  • The Partner’s Statue acts as the perfect reminder of Walt Disney; the man responsible

  • for the magical place that’s Disneyland.

  • Number 2 Sleeping Beauty Castle is the centrepiece

  • of Disneyland, and if you take a look up at the castle archway youll find a crest with

  • a triple set of Lions.

  • Well what a lot of people don’t know is that this here is the Disney family crest

  • and it was added to the castle in 1960.

  • Something else that was added to the castle later on was this chandelier clock in 1996

  • during a castle refurb.

  • You may have noticed it as youre walking through the castle from Fantasyland towards

  • the hub, and theres been a longtime myth surrounding this chandelier.

  • If you watch the clock, youll realize it doesn’t actually work and that the time

  • is just frozen.

  • The commonly talked about myth is this clock marks the time that Walt Disney passed away.

  • Well Walt Disney passed away on December 15th at 9:35am, and without even knowing which

  • hand marks the minute or hour both are no where close to being 9:35.

  • So obviously it’s safe to say this myth is busted, but what exactly does the time

  • represent?

  • Well it actually represents nothing of importance according to a Disney Parks blog post.

  • When the chandelier clock was installed in 1996, it actually never worked in the first

  • place.

  • Over the years the clock has been set on different times but none of them have had any significance.

  • So the big moral of the story is to never rely on this broken clock to tell you the

  • current time or any significant time of the past.

  • Number 1 One of the most popular Disney myths is that

  • Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen and was buried under certain locations at Disneyland.

  • The most common location talked about is under Pirates of the Caribbean.

  • Another is under the Partners statue, beneath Sleeping Beauty castle has also been brought

  • up and even under Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom in Florida.

  • Well none of this is true and the myths are completely false; Walt was never frozen and

  • is not under anything at Disney theme park.

  • When he passed, he was cremated just a couple days later.

  • January 12th 1967 was the first time someone was cryogenically frozen and it wasn’t Walt

  • Disney.

  • So how did this myth gain steam?

  • Well it all started back in 1969 when the rumour was first briefly mentioned in a French

  • magazine called Ici Paris.

  • Then in 1972, the president of the Cryonics Society of California spoke with the LA Times.

  • He said that Walt Disney showed interest in being Frozen but he did confirm he wasn’t

  • actually frozen.

  • He saidThe truth is, Walt missed out.

  • He never specified it in writing..”

  • Disney’s family denied that even this quote was true and Walt’s daughter Dianne said

  • There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be

  • frozen.

  • I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics.”

  • Over the years the myth has continued to spread.

  • A lot of people still really want to believe its true.

  • Walt may be gone and not frozen.

  • He was a legendary man and his legacy does live throughout all of Disneyland.

  • So did any of these Walt Disney myths and hidden secrets at Disneyland surprise you?

  • Have you ever heard or noticed any of them?

  • I’d love to know!

  • Leave a comment down below to start a conversion and don’t forget to hit that like button

  • if you enjoyed the video.

  • Thanks so much for watching!

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Welcome to TPMvids Disney Beat where we talk about all things Disney!

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